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Every Wednesday Michio
Kaku will be answering
reader questions about
physics and futuristic
science on his blog at Big
Think. If you have a
question for Dr. Kaku, just
post it in the comment
section on his blog;
Dr. Kaku’s Universe and
check back on Wednesdays to
see if he answers it. Today,
Dr. Kaku addresses a
question posed by Andy
Speight: Are the
supermassive black holes at
the center of galaxies
involved in the formation of
those galaxies?

Take a look at
the last ten blog entries on
Dr. Kaku’s BigThink.com
blog; Dr. Kaku’s Universe.
Don’t forget to
register on the
Big Think website so you can
make comments on the blog
entries where Dr. Kaku will
be answering questions.

Michio sits down with Peter
Slen of Book TV (C-Span2)
for a 3 hour In-Depth
interview talking about his
life, career, and his work.
Dr. Kaku also responded to
telephones calls and
electronic communications.

Physics
of the Future: How Science
will Change Daily Life by
2100 by Michio Kaku -
To Be Released on
March 22, 2011

Based on interviews with
over three hundred of the
world’s top scientists, who
are already inventing the
future in their labs,
Kaku—in a lucid and engaging
fashion—presents the
revolutionary developments
in medi cine, computers,
quantum physics, and space
travel that will forever
change our way of life and
alter the course of
civilization itself.

Pre-Order Your Copy
of Physics of the Future by
clicking on one of the
vendors below:

Dr. Kaku’s
astonishing revelations
include:

The Internet will be
in your contact lens. It
will recog nize people’s
faces, display their
biographies, and even
translate their words
into subtitles.

You will control
computers and appliances
via tiny sen sors that
pick up your brain
scans. You will be able
to rearrange the shape
of objects.

Sensors in your
clothing, bathroom, and
appliances will monitor
your vitals, and
nanobots will scan your
DNA and cells for signs
of danger, allowing life
expectancy to increase
dramatically.

Radically new
spaceships, using laser
propulsion, may replace
the expensive chemical
rockets of today. You
may be able to take an
elevator hundreds of
miles into space by
simply pushing the “up”
button.

Like Physics of the
Impossible
and
Visions
before it, Physics of the
Future
is an exhilarating, wondrous
ride through the next one
hundred years of
breathtaking scientific
revolution.

I am proud to announce
that the second season of “Sci
Fi Science: Physics of the
Impossible,” debuts
next Wednesday,
Sept. 1, at 9 pm, on the
Science Channel
(check your
local listings
for details). It was a
pleasure working for six
months with the Science
Channel to produce 12
exciting episodes that I am
sure will fascinate and
educate the audience.
Visit the Sci-Fi Science
website for more details
about airing dates, episodes
and even video clips.

My new television show
“Sci-Fi Science” on The
Science Channel is inspired
by my book “Physics of the
Impossible.” The first
season of the show takes
viewers through the wildest
frontiers of science with a
real-world look into the
world of phasers,
teleportation, light-sabers,
invisibility, time travel
and more. Filming for the
second season is nearing an
end, and will be launched on
The Science Channel on Sept.
1 at 9 pm. I’ve
decided to try something new
with my Big Think
blog—offering you the
opportunity to have me
answer some of your
questions on camera.
The basis of the topics are
“shows” from the first
season of “Sci-Fi Science.”

All you have to do is
post your questions in the
comments section on my Big
Think Blog (Links Bleow).
Some time in the near
future, I will choose
questions from each topic in
the series and answer them
on camera in another Big
Think interview. The final
product will prominently be
displayed on my Big Think
Blog (Dr. Kaku’s Universe).

Please find the
links to the 3-Part series
below (each with different
topics):

What We’ve Learned from
the Gulf Spill
In the future, relief wells
should be drilled
simultaneously with the main
well.
by Michio Kaku

If the oil leak in the
Gulf of Mexico were a
tragedy, it would be in
three acts. In Act I, there
was the chaos caused by a
methane explosion that
killed 11 workers and
unleashed the greatest
environmental catastrophe in
U.S. history. In Act II, we
saw the floundering of BP
officials, as eight failed
attempts were made to cap,
siphon, stuff, smother or
seal the leak.

We are now slowly
entering Act III, where
engineers have painfully
learned some valuable
lessons and are on the verge
of slowly killing this
raging monster.

The nagging question is:
Why did it take so long? Why
couldn’t they have capped
the leak months ago?

For three agonizing
months, BP’s engineers and
executives were essentially
making things up as they
went along, conducting a
billion dollar science
project with the American
people as guinea pigs. The
basic science of stopping
oil leaks at 5,000 feet
below sea level should have
been done years ago.

All eight failed attempts
to control the leak might
have worked if the blowout
had taken place at 200 feet.
The 1979 Ixtoc oil leak in
Mexico, which was the mother
of all oil disasters, took
place at 160 feet and raged
for 10 months. It was
eventually stopped by a
relief well. The lessons
learned from that and other
oil disasters gave
confidence to engineers in
the industry that they could
handle any leak.

Physics are different at
5,000 feet than they are at
200 feet. The pressure at
5,000 feet is enormous,
about 2,000 pounds per
square inch. Think of
placing a passenger car on
every square inch of your
chest. You would be crushed
like an egg shell within a
fraction of a second. Even
military submarines cannot
operate at those depths.
Instead, special remote
controlled robotic subs are
required. They are often
hard to control and
sometimes even collide.

Furthermore, methane,
which is found as a gas in
our kitchen stoves,
solidifies into an ice-like
hydrate at those tremendous
depths and cold
temperatures. The original
explosion, it is
conjectured, was caused when
heat was applied to set the
well’s cement seal,
expanding the methane
hydrates into gas that shot
up the riser pipe and
ignited. The presence of
methane hydrates also foiled
the first attempt to cap the
leak. Later, BP engineers
had greater success by
sending warm water down the
pipe to prevent methane
hydrates from clogging it
without creating gas bubbles
like the one that caused the
explosion.

BP officials initially
low-balled the size of the
leak. Although they
originally stated that 1,000
barrels of oil were leaking
per day, they also released
video that gave a
startlingly different
picture.

In our freshman physics
courses we teach the
students that the flow rate
from a pipe is the product
of the area of the pipe
times the velocity of the
fluid. You don’t have to be
a rocket scientist to
multiply these two numbers.
Even a simple
back-of-the-envelope
estimate of the leak from
watching the video will give
you estimates of 40,000 to
60,000 barrels of oil per
day. Did BP officials
knowingly release
misleadingly low figures,
perhaps because they can be
fined more than $4,000 per
barrel by the U.S.
Environmental Protection
Agency?

In the future there
should be much tighter
controls on deep-water
drilling, and there should
be redundant systems on hand
so that the well can be
capped or siphoned
immediately if the blowout
preventer fails. Perhaps
relief wells should be
drilled simultaneously with
the main well, since they
are the gold standard for
stopping oil leaks and work
nearly without fail. There
also has to be a standby
fleet of ships with
skimmers, centrifugal pumps
and booms ready to handle
oil once it is leaked.

More importantly, the
basic science of plugging
oil leaks at great depths
has to be completed, so that
any future tragedies will
not be repeated as farce.
Until we end our oil
addiction and develop
alternative energy sources,
similar plotlines will no
doubt recur.

The last round of
Autographed Books & Photos
are now available for
purchase. A new
community driven website is
currently in development, so
all proceeds from sales go
towards the continued
advancements of the
Mkaku.org community
including hosting fees and
new software. Each of the
books (Physics of the
Impossible, Hyperspace,
Beyond Einstein, Visions &
Parallel Worlds are
$40.00 and includes U.S. and
International Shipping.
You may also
purchase all 5 Autographed
Books for $150.00.
Please allow 2-4 weeks for
delivery (International
Shipments vary by Country). http://mkaku.org/home/?page_id=743

I’m
nearly done filming a second
season of “SCI-FI Science:
Physics of the Impossible”
on The Science Channel. In
this exciting new series,
I’ve identified 12 more
familiar science-fiction
movie, TV and literature
notions and technologies.
I’ve been explaining how we
can build some of these
SCI-FI ideas into science
fact and — once again — I
want to know what YOU
think of my
designs.

The next two episodes
will be: ”How to
Stop the Rise of the
Machines” and “How
to Defeat a Cyborg Army”
– I’m inviting lucky winners
of our competitions to the
studio shoots where I will
reveal my designs.

The fans and supporters of
Dr. Michio Kaku give a warm
welcome to the
ColbertNation. Catch Dr.
Kaku on the Colbert Report
tonight, July 5th, on Comedy
Central (11:30 EST). And
please, sign-up for our
newsletter below or become
Dr. Kaku’s fan on Facebook
so we can keep you informed
about special events and
developments like our new
vastly-expanded website
COMING SOON!SIGN-UP FOR OUR
NEWSLETTER BELOW TO BE
NOTIFIED OF THE NEW WEBSITE
LAUNCH!

“In fact, it is
often stated that of
all the theories
proposed in this
century, the
silliest is quantum
theory. Some say
that the only thing
that quantum theory
has going for it, in
fact, is that it is
unquestionably
correct.”

Almost since its
inception, the
development of
quantum theory has
been built by some
of the greatest
minds of their day.
Some of the
framework for this
theory can be traced
back to the
following
discoveries:

– In 1897 the
discovery of the
electron proved
there were
individual particles
that make up the
atom.

There was brief
speculation in the
media about using
nuclear weapons to
seal up the raging
oil leak in the Gulf
of Mexico. I think
this is a bad idea,
from a physics point
of view. Let me say
that my mentor while
I was in high school
and at Harvard,
Edward Teller,
father of the
H-bomb, was a firm
advocate of using
nuclear weapons to
dig out canals and
other grand
engineering
projects. The
logic is this:
when an H-bomb is
detonated
underground, most of
its energy is in the
form of soft X-rays,
which deposit most
of their energy in a
large sphere, where
it is absorbed and
the energy turned to
intense heat. (In
the air, this ball
of hot ionized
plasma rises
rapidly, with cold
air coming in from
the side, which
gives rise to the
familiar mushroom
cloud).

Up
until just a few
hundred years ago
most people thought
that the Universe
was a stable, static
place that had been
here forever and
would continue
forever. Today we
know that nothing
could be further
from the truth. In
reality, we know
that the Universe is
a violent and
continually changing
place that was born
in a mere nanosecond
of time in the
spectacular event we
call the Big Bang.
You may have heard
the Big Bang
referred to as the
mother of all
explosions but it
wasn’t an explosion
so much as an
expansion. From a
space that was
infinitely small,
the entire Universe
expanded and
continues even to
this day -13.7
billion years later.

Water and Organic Compounds Found on
a Second Asteroid - The
headlines were swamped again, on
Friday as scientists confirmed the
discovery of water ice and organic
molecules on a second asteroid (65
Cybele) in the same region of the
asteroid belt. Although the
asteroids only contain very thin
layers of ice, they suggest that
water may be quite common on
asteroids after all.

Graphene Will Change the Way We Live
- Some say that it will be heralded
as one of the materials that will
literally change our lives in the
21st century. Not only is graphene
the thinnest possible material that
is feasible, but it's also about 200
times stronger than steel and
conducts electricity better than any
material known to man—at room
temperature.

Found: The Holy Grail of Planetary
Science - Recently, a nearby
earth-like twin was found in outer
space—perhaps capable of harboring
life. The planet is called Gliese
581g, and is 20 light years from
Earth (about 120 trillion miles). In
width, it is about 20% to 30% or so
bigger than the Earth, but weighs
about 3 to 4 times more. What is
exciting is that the planet is
inside the Goldilocks zone—meaning
it is not too close to its sun
(where water would boil) or too far
(where water would turn to ice), but
just right to have liquid water, one
of the most precious substances in
the Universe.

He has published research articles on
string theory from 1969[citation
needed] to 2000. In 1974, along with Prof.
K. Kikkawa, he wrote the first paper on string field
theory, now a major branch of string theory, which
summarizes each of the five string theories into a
single equation. In addition to his work on string
field theory, he also authored some of the first
papers on multi-loop amplitudes in string theory,
the first paper on the divergences of these
multi-loop amplitudes, the first paper on
supersymmetry breaking at high temperatures in
the early universe, the first paper on
super-conformal gravity, and also some of the first
papers on the non-polynomial closed string field
theory. Many of the ideas he first explored have
since blossomed into active areas of string
research. His most recent research publication, on
bosonic quantum membranes, was published in Physical
Review in 2000.

In
Physics of the Impossible, he examines the
technologies of invisibility, teleportation,
precognition, star ships, antimatter engines, time
travel and more—all regarded as things that are not
possible today but that might be possible in the
future. In this book, he ranks these subjects
according to when, if ever, these technologies might
become reality. In March 2008, Physics of the
Impossible entered the
New York Times best-seller list, and stayed on
for five weeks.

Kaku has publicly stated his concerns over
matters including the human cause of
global warming,
nuclear armament,
nuclear power and the general misuse of science.[4]
He was critical of the
Cassini-Huygens
space probe because of the 72 pounds of
plutonium contained in the craft for use by its
radioisotope thermoelectric generator. Conscious
of the possibility of casualties if the probe's fuel
were dispersed into the environment during a
malfunction and crash as the probe was making a
'sling-shot' maneuver around earth, Kaku publicly
criticized NASA's risk assessment.[5]
He has also spoken on the dangers of
space junk and called for more and better
monitoring. Kaku is generally a vigorous supporter
of the exploration of outer space, believing that
the ultimate destiny of the human race may lie in
the stars; but he is critical of some of the
cost-ineffective missions and methods of
NASA.

Kaku credits his anti-nuclear
war position to programs he heard on the
Pacifica Radio network, during his student years
in California. It was during this period that he
made the decision to turn away from a career
developing the next generation of nuclear weapons in
association with Dr. Teller and focused on research,
teaching, writing and media. Dr. Kaku joined with
others such as Dr.
Helen Caldicott,
Jonathan Schell,
Peace Action and was instrumental in building a
global anti-nuclear weapons movement that arose in
the 1980s, during the administration of US President
Ronald Reagan.

Kaku was a board member of
Peace Action and on the board of radio station
WBAI-FM in New York City where he originated his
long running program, Explorations, that focused on
the issues of science, war, peace and the
environment.

In 1999, Kaku was one of the scientists
profiled in the feature-length film, Me and Isaac
Newton, directed by
Michael Apted. It played theatrically in the
United States, was later broadcast on national TV,
and won several film awards.

In 2005 Kaku appeared in the short documentary
Obsessed & Scientific. The film is about the
possibility of time travel and the people who dream
about it. It screened at the Montreal World Film
Festival and a feature film expansion is in
development talks. Kaku also appeared in the ABC
documentary UFOs: Seeing Is Believing, in which he
suggested that while he believes it is extremely
unlikely that extraterrestrials have ever actually
visited Earth, we must keep our minds open to the
possible existence of civilizations a million years
ahead of us in technology, where entirely new
avenues of physics open up. He also discussed the
future of interstellar exploration and alien life in
the Discovery Channel special
Alien Planet as one of the multiple speakers who
co-hosted the show, and Einstein's Theory of
Relativity on The History Channel.

In February 2006, Kaku appeared as presenter
in the BBC-TV four-part documentary
Time which seeks to explore the mysterious
nature of time. Part one of the series concerns
personal time, and how we perceive and measure the
passing of time. The second in the series deal with
cheating time, exploring possibilities of extending
the lifespan of organisms. The geological time
covered in part three explores the ages of the earth
and the sun. Part four covers the topics of
cosmological time, the beginning of time and the
events that occurred at the instant of the big bang.

On January 28, 2007, Kaku hosted the Discovery
Channel series
2057. This three-hour program discussed how
medicine, the city, and energy will change over the
next 50 years. In 2008, Kaku hosted the three-hour
BBC-TV documentary Visions of the Future, on the
future of computers, medicine, and quantum physics,
and appeared in several episodes of the History
Channel's Universe series.

On Dec. 1, 2009, he began hosting a 12-episode
weekly TV series for the Science Channel at 10 pm,
called "Sci
Fi Science: Physics of the Impossible," based on
his best-selling book. Each 30 minute episode
discusses the scientific basis behind such
imaginative schemes as: time travel, parallel
universes, warp drive, star ships, light sabers,
force fields, teleportation, invisibility, death
stars, and even superpowers and flying saucers. Each
episode includes interviews with the world's top
scientists working on prototypes of these
technologies, interviews with sci fi fans, clips
from science fiction movies, and special effects and
computer graphics. Although these inventions are
impossible today, the series discusses when these
technologies might become feasible in the future.[6]

Kaku is popular in mainstream media because of
his knowledge and his accessible approach to
presenting complex subjects in science. While his
technical writings are confined to theoretical
physics, his public speaking and media appearances
cover a broad range of topics, from the
Kardashev scale to more esoteric subjects such
as
wormholes and
time travel. In January 2007, Kaku visited the
Middle Eastern country of
Oman. While there, he talked at length to select
members of that country's decision makers. In an
interview with local media, Dr Kaku elaborated on
his vision of mankind's future. Kaku considers
climate change and
terrorism as serious threats in man's evolution
from a
Type 0 civilization to Type 1.[7]

Kaku is the host of the weekly, one hour radio
program Explorations, produced by the Pacifica
Foundation's
WBAI in New York. "Explorations" is syndicated
to community and independent radio stations and
makes previous broadcasts available on the program's
website. Kaku defines the show as dealing with the
general topics of
science,
war,
peace and the
environment.

In April 2006, Kaku began broadcasting Science
Fantastic on 90 commercial radio stations, the only
nationally syndicated science program on commercial
radio in the United States. It is syndicated by
Talk Radio Network and now reaches 130 radio
stations, and
America's Talk on
XM. The program is formatted as a live listener
call-in show, focusing on "futurology," which he
defines as the future of science[citation
needed]. Featured guests include Nobel
laureates and top researchers on the topics of
string theory, time travel, black holes, gene
therapy, aging, space travel, artificial
intelligence and SETI. Unfortunately, when Kaku is
busy filming for television, Science Fantastic goes
on hiatus. Sometimes for several months. Kaku is
also a frequent guest on many programs where he is
outspoken in all areas and issues he considers of
importance, such as the program "Coast
to Coast AM," where on 30 November 2007, he
reaffirmed his belief that there is a 100 percent
probability of extraterrestrial life in the
universe.[8]

Kaku has appeared on the
Opie and Anthony show a number of times,
discussing popular fiction such as
Back to The Future,
Lost, and the theories behind time-travel that
these and other fictional entertainment focus on.
Steven G. Spruill's novel
The Janus Equation,[9]
which describes the time travel of a post-op
transsexual mating with her past self and thereby
becoming father and mother to her present self,
prompted Dr. Kaku's comment: "Well, you're in deep
doo doo if that happens."[10]

Physics of the Impossible is an exploration into
the science people dream about. Kaku explores things
that people think are quite impossible. This book is
divided into three sections: Class I, Class II, and
Class III, according to the time that the things he
talks about might happen.